In assessing the families, the team at Ballyowen Meadows make use of a number of the resources and tools of The Family Assessment (Department of Health (UK) et al 2000).
In assessing the families, the team at Ballyowen Meadows make use of a number of the resources and tools of The Family Assessment (Department of Health (UK) et al 2000).
The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (Department of Health (UK) 2000) is made up of three domains representing the key aspects of a child’s inner and outer world:
  • The child’s developmental needs,
  • The capacity of the parents or carers to support their child’s development and respond appropriately to his or her needs.
  • Wider family and environmental factors that may have an impact on a child’s development and on the capacity of their parents or carers to support the child’s development and respond to the child’s needs.

The framework is a guide to collating information gathered during an assessment and recommends using evidence-based tools, to gather, organise and analyse information. The range of tools recommended include questionnaires and scales, interviews and observations from The Family Assessment and Department of Health (UK) Family Pack of Questionnaires and Scales.

The Family Assessment is a model for assessing family competence, strengths and difficulties in complex care cases. The Family Assessment tool was introduced by the Department of Health in the UK in 2001 and has been promoted by the Department of Children, Schools and Families UK and more recently by the (UK) Department of Education.
Using the presenting information, The Safeguarding Children Assessment and Analysis Framework (SAAF) is then used to assess the profile of harm, risks of future harm and predicting the likely outlook for the child and determining prospects for successful intervention.

The assessment takes 12 weeks to complete. Over the course of the placement the team will meet with family members, including children to complete interviews, scales and tasks. A core belief in the assessment process at Ballyowen Meadows is in the potential for change and the team help parents and the child to identify where change is possible through a number of evidence-based parenting and therapeutic interventions.

Ballyowen Meadows will provide a comprehensive parenting capacity report with clear recommendations. At the end of the assessment the report will be read with the parents and the referring Social Work Team.

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